Israel-Palestine Conflict: Right of Self-determination or a Religious Feud

The world we are living in has been created by western imperialism and neo-colonial powers. Current boundaries in the Arab world had been drawn by these powers to continue their political and economic hegemony. Was the creation of a state for Jews in the region, a desire to oust Jews from Europe, the guilt of western nations, religious obligation, power-balancing scheme, a success of the Zionist movement or a failure of Muslim states? Is Israel’s aggressive outlook toward neighbouring countries a result of religious belief, expansionism, or a survival strategy? Why over ten Muslim majority Arab states resourced with land, population and wealth were defeated three times by Israel and despite the UN’s resolution a separate state for Palestinians has yet not been created? Can we call the conflict between Palestinians and Israel a clash of religions or is it fundamentally a human rights issue? Why a worldwide outcry on Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians is not being monetized by ‘Ummah’ comprising of 50 nation-states? On the contrary, presently, a campaign in the Muslim world is carried out to recognise the state of Israel.

Overseas Progressive Pakistanis (OPP) The Netherlands’ objective of this online dialogue is to understand and filter the popular narrative/s and the truth behind this conflict and to contribute promoting a rational discourse based on the Right of Palestinians for an independent state.

Our guest speaker is Dr Taimur Rehman, an academic, and socialist political activist. He is an associate professor of political science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). Dr Taimur is the General Secretary of the Mazdoor Kissan Party of Pakistan. He is the author of the book ‘The Class Structure of Pakistan’ and has been delivering lectures on contemporary issues in the context of political history on his YouTube channel in the Urdu language.